Video: 'Woody Allen defends himself on 60 Minutes in '92'

(Tuesday, August 18, 1992) — Comic legend Woody Allen, who has fiercely guarded his privacy even as his movies made him one of New York’s most-recognized celebrities, made an unusual off-screen public appearance today, defending himself against child-abuse allegations and striking back at his longtime leading lady, actress Mia Farrow, and her lawyers.

Video: 'Moses Farrow defends Woody Allen, claims Mia Farrow was abusive'

At a news conference that even he, the master of the quintessentially thorny New York scene, seemed to acknowledge bordered on the bizarre, Allen specifically denied sexually abusing then-7-year-old daughter Dylan Farrow, whose custody he is seeking.

Video: 'Woody Allen's wife breaks her silence in explosive interview'

He said the allegations were nothing but a weapon in the attack on his efforts to win custody of that child and two others from Farrow. He also said that her lawyers had demanded $7 million in exchange for not going to the authorities with the child-abuse allegations and that he had refused the demand.

Video: 'By the Way, Woody Allen Is Innocent Part 1- Overview'

“This is an unconscionable and gruesomely damaging manipulation of innocent children for vindictive and self-serving motives,” Allen said, reading from a two-page statement at the news conference, at the Plaza Hotel.

According to court testimony, on Aug. 4, 1992, Allen visited the children at Farrow’s home in Bridgewater, Connecticut, while she was shopping with a friend.

Video: 'By the Way, Woody Allen Is Innocent Part 2- Maureen Orth's "Undeniable Facts"'

The next day, that friend’s babysitter told her employer that she had seen that “Dylan was sitting on the sofa, and Woody was kneeling on the floor, facing her, with his head in her lap”.

Video: 'By the Way, Woody Allen Is Innocent Part 3- One Big, Happy Brood'

When Farrow asked Dylan about it, Dylan allegedly said that Allen had touched Dylan’s “private part” while they were alone together in the attic.

Video: 'By the Way, Woody Allen Is Innocent Part 4- Moses Farrow'

Allen strongly denied the allegation and then began proceedings in New York Supreme Court for sole custody of his and Farrow’s son Satchel, as well as Dylan and Moses, their two adopted children.

Video: 'By the Way, Woody Allen Is Innocent Part 5- Soon-Yi Previn'

In March 1993, a six-month investigation by the Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of Yale-New Haven Hospital concluded that Dylan had not been sexually abused.

In June 1993, Judge Elliott Wilk rejected Allen’s bid for custody and rejected the allegation of sexual abuse. Wilk said he was less certain than the Yale-New Haven team that there was conclusive evidence that there was no sexual abuse and called Allen’s conduct with Dylan “grossly inappropriate”, although not sexual.

Video: 'By the Way, Woody Allen Is innocent Part 6- Mia Farrow'

In September 1993, the state prosecutor announced that despite having “probable cause”, he would not pursue charges in order “to avoid the unjustifiable risk of exposing a child to the rigors and uncertainties of a questionable prosecution”.

Video: 'By the Way, Woody Allen Is Innocent Part 7- Ronan (Satchel) Farrow (Sinatra?)'

In October 1993, the New York Child Welfare Agency of the State Department of Social Services closed a 14-month investigation and concluded there was no credible evidence of abuse or maltreatment, and the allegation was unfounded.

In 2014, when Allen received a Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement, the issue returned to the forefront of media attention, with Mia Farrow and Ronan Farrow making disparaging remarks about Allen on Twitter.

On February 1, 2014, New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof, with Dylan’s permission, published a column that included excerpts from a letter Dylan had written to Kristof restating the allegation against Allen, and called out fellow actors who have continued to work in his films.

Video: 'By the Way, Woody Allen Is Innocent Part 8- #Justice'

Allen responded to the allegation in an open letter, also in The New York Times, strongly denying it. “Of course, I did not molest Dylan…No one wants to discourage abuse victims from speaking out, but one must bear in mind that sometimes there are people who are falsely accused and that is also a terribly destructive thing”, he wrote.

In 2018, Moses Farrow (Mia Farrow’s and Allen’s adopted son who was present at her Bridgewater house during Allen’s visit) published a blog post called “A Son Speaks Out,” in which he argued for Allen’s innocence, accused Mia Farrow of abuse, and offered a different version of his childhood from that given by some of his siblings.